Global Benefits Lead
- Your leadership and decisiveness are ideal for owning and driving the global benefits strategy from design to execution.
- You excel at negotiating with vendors and holding partners accountable, ensuring top performance and cost efficiency.
- Your strategic vision and comfort with financial modeling make you a natural fit for evaluating and implementing self-insured plans.
- You are very effective at communicating complex ideas to leadership and driving cross-functional alignment.
- You might need to be careful not to override local nuances or employee needs in your drive for efficiency and scale.
About Vercel:
Vercel is the agentic infrastructure company. We free people and agents to ship what’s next.
For more than a decade, Vercel has shaped how the web is built. As the team behind Next.js, v0, and AI SDK, we create products that help builders move from idea to production with speed, security, and exceptional developer experience.
Now, software is entering a new era, and the next generation of products will not just be used by people. They will be built, extended, and operated by agents.
We are building the platform for that future, trusted by companies like OpenAI, PayPal, Ramp, Supreme, and millions of developers worldwide. Whether you’re building our products, supporting our customers, growing our community, or shaping our story, you’ll help define what comes next.
About the Role:
We are looking for a Global Benefits Lead to join our People team. In this role, you will own the strategy, design, and execution of Vercel’s global benefits programs. You’ll ensure our offerings are competitive, compliant, and scalable across a distributed workforce spanning 30+ countries, including EOR hiring. This includes health and welfare, retirement, leave of absence, time off, stipends, and wellness programs.
You’ll lead shaping our long-term benefits strategy, including evaluating and implementing a self-insured model in the U.S. as we continue to scale. This is a high-impact individual contributor role with meaningful cross-functional partnership across the People, Finance, Legal and Payroll teams.
You will report to the Head of People Ops and will be located in San Francisco or New York City. If you’re based within commuting distance of one of our offices (SF or NY), this role includes in-office anchor days on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. For location-specific details, please connect with our recruiting team.
If you’re based within a pre-determined commuting distance of one of our offices (SF, NY, London, or Berlin), the role includes in-office anchor days on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. If you're located beyond that distance, the role is fully remote. For location-specific details, please connect with our recruiting team.
What You Will Do:
- Develop Vercel’s global benefits philosophy and strategy across health and welfare, retirement (401k and global equivalents), leave of absence, time off, stipends, and wellness programs
- Evaluate, design, and implement a potential U.S. self-insured health plan, including financial modeling, risk assessment, vendor selection (TPA, stop-loss, PBM), and compliance considerations
- Partner with EOR providers to design and manage benefits programs, ensuring local compliance while maintaining a consistent global philosophy
- Lead analysis, benchmarking and implementation for benefits in new entities from global expansion
- Lead global open enrollment cycles end-to-end, including vendor coordination, systems readiness, employee communication, and reporting
- Manage the global benefits budget, including forecasting, cost analysis, and scenario modeling to support executive decision-making
- Oversee broker and vendor relationships, negotiating contracts and holding partners accountable to performance and service standards
- Administer employee stipend programs (wellness, remote work, educational reimbursement) with clear governance and operational rigor
- Ensure compliance with U.S. and international benefits and leave regulations, proactively mitigating risk as we expand
- Build and document scalable processes that support continued global growth
About You:
- 8+ years of experience building and managing global benefits programs at a scaling company
- Experience supporting a distributed workforce across multiple countries, with significant reliance on EOR partners
- Direct experience evaluating, implementing, or managing a U.S. self-insured health plan
- Strong expertise in U.S. health and welfare, 401k administration, and leave compliance, with working knowledge of international statutory benefits
- Experience managing benefits budgets and building financial models to guide program decisions
- Ability to translate complex benefits structures into clear, effective communication for employees and leadership
- Experience building scalable processes and systems to support rapid growth
Bonus If You:
- Have supported rapid international expansion
- Have transitioned from fully insured to self-insured models
- Have implemented or optimized global benefits administration systems
- Have designed wellness programs tied to measurable engagement or retention outcomes
Benefits:
- Competitive compensation package, including equity.
- Inclusive Healthcare Package.
- Learn and Grow - we provide mentorship and send you to events that help you build your network and skills.
- Flexible Time Off.
- We will provide you the gear you need to do your role, and a WFH budget for you to outfit your space as needed.
The San Francisco, CA base pay range for this role is $180,000 - $220,000 Actual salary will be based on job-related skills, experience, and location. Compensation outside of San Francisco may be adjusted based on employee location. The total compensation package may include benefits, equity-based compensation, and eligibility for a company bonus or variable pay program depending on the role. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.
Vercel is committed to fostering and empowering an inclusive community within our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Vercel encourages everyone to apply for our available positions, even if they don't necessarily check every box on the job description.
Best personality fits for this role
Your leadership and decisiveness are ideal for owning and driving the global benefits strategy from design to execution.
Read the ENTJ career guide →Your strategic mindset will help you design a long-term global benefits philosophy and model self-insured plans with confidence.
Read the INTJ career guide →Your strong organizational skills and decisiveness are perfect for owning and executing the global benefits strategy.
Read the ESTJ career guide →